


My Paternal Uncle is a Big Purple Thing

by Silver_Shortage_in_Markarth



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Also Gengar is such a little troll, Familial Love, Gen, It doesn't take place in any particular region, Parent-Child Relationship, Pokemon considered part of the family, just think the real world with Pokemon elements worked in
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-05-30 19:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 15,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15103280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Shortage_in_Markarth/pseuds/Silver_Shortage_in_Markarth
Summary: Following the recent death of her mother, a woman moves back in with her aging father.After this becomes a series of events of them getting their lives back to normal.Also there might be a Gengar or two involved somewhere in this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Why am I starting this I already got a bunch of other projects to deal with right now

It were times like this that Logan was grateful the Department Store in the next city over was open 24 hours. Although he enjoyed the Pokemart here in his own little town, sometimes they just didn't have what he was looking for.

Or rather, they did have what he was looking for, but not his Pokemon.

Regardless, when there was a storewide sale being advertised, he readily took the opportunity to stock up on goodies for the both of them. All he had to do now was actually find his Pokemon. Logan had gotten used to him doing this sort of thing over the decades, but it didn't really make it any less frustrating when he did it in times like this.

"Hello?" Logan called out in the dark storage shed while holding a flashlight in front of him. "Come on now, this is no time to be playing hide-and-seek! We can do that later!"

As he searched, the flashlight dimmed and flickered a couple times. Logan smacked the back of it as if it were the batteries' doing, but it didn't do any good. He growled as he kept at it, not noticing that the door behind him was creaking until it slammed shut.

"Eh?" Just as Logan was turning to back and see why it got so much darker, the flashlight went out completely, leaving him in a now pitch-black storage shed. Now, Logan alternated between feeling around him and hitting the flashlight.

"I really need to install a lightbulb in here," he said to himself as he got further in, trying to ignore the sudden drop in temperature when he reached a certain point. Right behind him, a pair of menacing red eyes started to almost bore holes into the back of his head.

Then came the laughter.

"Gegegegegegegehhhhh..." Along with that came the sounds of footsteps scurrying by. Logan continued hitting the flashlight, trying to get it to turn back on. Once it finally flickered on again, he pointed it at the owner of the red eyes.

...

"Well, now there you are!" Logan exclaimed when he saw Gengar. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Gengar! Geh gegegegegehhhh!" Gengar just jumped and clapped while he continued laughing, happy about his impromptu game of hide-and-seek.

Logan just sighed good-naturedly as he patted Gengar on the head. "You're just something else, you know that? Now come on; there's a half off sale at the department store going on. If we're lucky, we just might be able to make out like bandits!" Hearing the word 'sale' caused Gengar's eyes to get big with delight. 

He then turned and went back to the storage shed door. Gengar followed him, dancing as he did so; he always loved the sales going on at the Department Store. 

Gengar just kept leaping in joy as they reached Logan's truck. His ever-present smile seemed to grow bigger as Logan opened the passenger door for him, and helped him climb in. 


	2. Chapter 2

Early the next morning, Melinda was getting breakfast ready for everyone who stayed the night at her house. As she turned to reach the oven and pour pancake batter into the heated frying pan, though, she bumped into something. 

"Huh?" She looked down to see a little purple creature tugging at her shirt. Then she chuckled and scratched behind one of its ears. 

"Morning, Violetta," she said to the oddly shorter than most Gengar. "I'm surprised you're up and at 'em, given how long you stayed up with the other Pokemon last night. Sounds like you guys were having fun." 

Upon hearing this, Violetta put a hand up to her face and looked like she was giggling mischievously. She nodded while doing so. 

"Gengar, Gengar!" Violetta then reached up and tried to take hold of Melinda's bowl of pancake batter. Immediately, Melinda pulled it out of her reach and wagged her finger. 

"Oh no, I don't think so! If I let you eat another bowl of pancake batter, I won't be able to finish breakfast, and _you'll_ end up with another bellyache!" She looked off to the side briefly, as if in thought. "But I might have some chocolate milk in the fridge with your name on it!" 

Hearing the words 'chocolate milk' quickly got Violetta off of Melinda and clambering to the fridge. Melinda watched as she ripped the door open and pulled out a carton of milk that literally had the name 'Violetta' messily scrawled on it. Then she rolled her eyes and shook her head while she tore the top of the carton off and chugged. 

"Like father like daughter, I guess," Melinda uttered while finally pouring the batter into the (hopefully not too hot) frying pan. As she readied her spatula to flip them, a few more visitors came in. 

...

"Mornin'," Andrei mumbled to his ex-wife and her Gengar while rubbing his eyes. Behind him, their teenage son and his Pokemon followed. 

"Morning, everyone," Melinda responded without looking up. She was still able to figure out who walked by her on their way to the breakfast table. "Andrei, Jason, Grovyle, Bonsly, Farfetch'd..." 

She proceeded to quick grab a plate to set the piping hot pancakes on. Once that was done, she followed Violetta to the table. 

"Thank you both for all of this," she said to her ex-husband and son while she looked on at them all serving themselves. "I've not been able to make sense on what to do now that Mom's gone."

"No need to thank us, Linda," Andrei told her as he watched Grovyle and Farfetch'd starting to bicker over one of the larger pancakes. "You're still family, even if you and I aren't together anymore." 

He leaned over and cut the pancake in half, satisfying both parties. "I might not know how it feels to lose a parent -not yet anyway-, but your loved ones are always here for you if you need them-" 

" ** _Bonsly_**!" All three of the humans jolted when they heard this ear-piercing cry, followed by more wailing, and turned to the source. Melinda then looked to see the cause of Bonsly's anguish, as her son picked him up and tried to get him to stop crying.

"Violetta!" She angrily said, causing Violetta to turn to her immediately, her enormous grin turning downward just as quickly. Melinda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Vi, you know better than to scare Bonsly. He's just a baby, for goodness' sake. Now apologize." 

Still looking very guilty, Violetta said a few words to Bonsly. Whatever it was she said, it got Bonsly to perk up again and cry out in joy this time. Now Melinda smacked her face with her palm, and shook her head. 

"I still can't believe I've had her for twenty years, now," she muttered to Andrei and Jason. "Seems like only yesterday I got her as a graduation present." 

"I can believe it," Andrei told her with a chuckle. "It meant we never had to worry about a babysitter for Jason when he was little."

Jason listened in on his parents talking about his mother's Gengar, and just rolled his eyes. He couldn't help but be a little embarrassed knowing he was raised partly by a Pokemon; especially one that had a penchant for being a trickster. He was glad that Violetta never played any tricks on _him_ , at least. 


	3. Chapter 3

After breakfast that morning, Melinda enlisted the help of her ex-husband and son to carry out boxes to help her move out. It took a bit of convincing to get Violetta and Grovyle to go along with it all (the other two couldn't help on account of them having no hands or thumbs). It was times like this that Melinda was glad Violetta had such a weakness for chocolate milk: She would have to start thanking the next farm of Miltanks she came across. 

By the time she was fully moved out and on the road, it was early afternoon. Melinda and Violetta sat in the front seats and waved good-bye to the others, before Melinda got her van going, and started off to her father's house. 

The decision to move back in with her dad was one made shortly after her mother's funeral, after much deliberation. Melinda was worried over how her father would be now that his beloved wife of many years was gone. She also wasn't entirely sure if Gengar would be the best conversationalist. 

Melinda was brought back to reality when she heard Violetta bouncing up and down in the passenger's seat, chanting endlessly. The joy and anticipation on her face was evident, and adorable. 

"Oh, that's right, Vi!" Melinda said to her when the two stopped at a red light. "You get to see _your_ dad, too! I wonder how he'll react..." Even though Melinda and Violetta hadn't been a duo as long as Logan and Gengar had, the two were still close with their respective fathers, and with each other. 

She was grateful that her father didn't live too incredibly far. 

...

With little to no incident, the two reached Logan and Gengar's house by late afternoon. 

Melinda got out of her van to catch the sound of a lawnmower coming from behind the house. Accompanying this, naturally, was the smell of freshly cut grass. She was still holding the door to the driver's side open when she saw the lawnmower coming over from the other side of the house. Right away, she couldn't help but giggle at the sight. 

Before Logan's wife died, Gengar always delighted in wearing her favorite sunhat. She didn't mind when he stole it directly off of her head; in fact, she thought it was cute. That very same sunhat was currently on Gengar's head as he came up to the front of the house, still pushing the lawnmower in front of him. 

At least he was until he saw Melinda and Violetta coming out of the van and approaching him. Then his eyes widened in delight, before turning the lawnmower off and and running into the house. A brief pause ensued, before Gengar came back out, pulling Logan behind him by the hand. 

"Yes, Gengar, I know the girls are here," Logan said with a chuckle. "I heard the van coming up the driveway. I know you're excited to see them, too!" 

When the two parted, Logan and Melinda watched as the two Gengars ran to meet one another. Both of them proceeded to grab hands and jump in a circle, unbelievably happy to see each other. 

"The way they're acting, you'd think they hadn't seen each other in years," Melinda told her dad when she stood by his side. Both of them watched Gengar and Violetta go on with their singing and dancing for a little longer, before turning to Melinda's van and started unpacking. 


	4. Chapter 4

There wasn't enough time to unpack all of Melinda's boxes until suppertime. Not that anybody really minded. 

Melinda sat on one of the remaining boxes, and watched Gengar push a step stool in front of the stove, who was ready to begin frying. Across the kitchen, Logan and Violetta were seated at the table, watching a documentary on the biography of the legendary trainer known as Red. Although the sight brought forth a strangely idyllic view, Melinda couldn't help but feel how bittersweet it was. 

Still, she figured to try and keep things as normal as she could, and attempted to initiate conversation. 

"Hey, Dad?" Logan made a noise to indicate he was listening. "How come you never tried to challenge any of the Pokemon Leagues?" 

Logan shrugged, before patting Violetta on the head. "Never was much of a priority for me. Gengar didn't seem too keen on doing it either. All he cared about was having fun in how ever he saw fit.

"Isn't that right?" Logan directed his attention to Gengar now. "Remember that personal trampoline we had? The one you'd spend hours jumping on?"

"Gengar!" Was the response given, without Gengar looking away from the grilled cheese he was working on. 

Logan chuckled. "I swear, he practically lived on that thing. Damn near broke his heart when we had to get rid of it. 

"Then we got him a personal television, and _that_  became his favorite thing." 

Now it was Melinda's turn to chuckle. "Sounds like Gengar had it good back then." 

"Indeed he did." Then he turned his attention back to the television, and shook his head in disapproval. "Now what kind of so-called champion goes three years without once contacting his mother? It wouldn't kill the guy to send her a letter or something, instead of letting the media do it for him."

...

Later that night, Melinda dragged herself to what had once been her old room. She was glad her father left it be, even after twenty years. Now, in some old pajamas she thought were probably her mother's, she was finally able to sleep, exhausted from the day's events. Or at least that was what the plan had been. 

Even in the completely dark room, Melinda could still remember where her bed was. Willing herself to move, she spread out her arms and legs, and flopped downwards. 

But rather than the mattress, she felt something a bit more solid, and vocal. 

"Gengar!" Was what she heard upon making contact with her unexpected bedmate. 

"What the...?!" Melinda recoiled back to see a red pair of eyes looking right at her. 

"Gengar? When did _you_ start sleeping in my room?" 

She was then subjected to an explanation that more or less amounted to "I stole your room when you moved out twenty years back." 

"Well, then, where are me and Violetta supposed to sleep?" 

Melinda got her answer in the form of Gengar throwing some pillows and bedsheets directly in her face. To this, Melinda groaned. 

"Dad's right: you really are something." 

Left with no choice, Melinda just set the pillows and blankets onto the floor for her and Violetta, patting the pillow next to her own to entice her, which was successful; Violetta quickly burrowed under the blanket and made herself comfortable. 

"Goodnight Gengar," Melinda said while yawning. 

"Gengar!" Was his response. 

"Goodnight Violetta." 

"Gengar!" 

It wasn't long before they were all fast asleep. 


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Melinda awoke to the sound of a pair of cymbals being crashed together somewhere in the house. It caused her to get a headache bad enough to try and hide her head under her pillow. Next to her, Violetta stirred and sat up, rubbing her bleary eyes. 

"Gengar?" She looked over at Melinda and poked her arm to get her attention. Melinda glared at her from under her pillow, knowing which of the other two in the house would be more likely to enact such an awakening. 

"Don't look at me," she grumbled. "He's _your_ dad." Then came the sound of a kazoo, which didn't really fit all that well with the cymbals. Melinda was at least glad there wasn't a vuvuzela being played alongside. 

Melinda stayed where she was, but Violetta hopped up to her feet and hobbled out to the rest of the house. To Melinda's dismay, there indeed came the sound of a vuvuzela alongside the kazoo and cymbals. Wondering how exactly her father could deal with all that noise, she just sighed and buried herself deeper into the blankets and pillows. 

...

A little while later, after Logan managed to get the two Gengars to quiet down for her sake, Melinda pulled herself out of her makeshift bed. She then slowly plodded out into the living room. As it turned out, the best Logan could do was to put the TV on, also turning on the closed captions so Gengar and Violetta could laugh at how wrong they could get. Nevertheless, he was still amused. 

"I forgot this town has crappy public access shows out the wazoo," she told him in a groggy voice. 

Logan nodded. "They seem to like them enough, though." Meanwhile, the Gengars laughed hysterically as a man's circus act with his group of Linoone went horribly wrong on the TV. 

...

Having decided to go out and explore the property, Melinda was struck by the great nostalgia that came with seeing everything again; from the looks of it, almost everything from her childhood was either left untouched, or modified so Gengar could use it for himself.

She did think it was kind of silly to see her old swing having been widened to accommodate Gengar's tush. Still, it looked as though he'd been enjoying it in all the years that she'd been gone; all the old equipment looked to have been used fairly recently, in fact. That at least made her feel good, to know it was still seeing use. 

It looked like Gengar hadn't been too fond of the spring ride Rapidash, though; its spring had been yanked out, and its face was buried into the ground in front of it. 

"Awww..." Melinda said as she bent down and inspected it. "I really liked this one..." Of course, it had not actually been her playground anymore for most of her life. Going by that, it meant that it had belonged to Gengar longer. 

Now Melinda was itching to go to the next area of her dad's property, which was a respectably-sized flower garden that had belonged to her mother. That was really the only respectable part left of it though; some of the plants had become so overgrown, it was practically a jungle by now. 

"Oh, Mom..." It hurt her to look at it now. "This used to be your pride and joy..." There did seem to be a few token efforts to maintain it, but whoever was doing it must've given up. 

With little else to do, Melinda sat down on the pathway that cut through the garden. She then looked up at the clouds in the sky, waiting for Logan to call her back into the house. 

She wasn't looking up for long, though. Out of the corner of her eye, something moved. 


	6. Chapter 6

"Hello?" Melinda had to make sure that she wasn't imagining things as she went to go check out what what was there. Looking behind her, the house looked to be getting awfully far away. She just shook her head and kept going, finding herself trudging through the rest of her mother's overgrown garden. 

Even though she was in her late thirties by now, Melinda still found herself having difficulty getting through everything. It made her recall when she once got lost in it, and was completely alone and terrified until Gengar showed up and helped her out. The memory made her chuckle a bit before she pressed on. 

"If anyone else is here, can you let me know?" Straining her ears, she could indeed hear something off deeper in; it sounded like the whimpering of a wounded Pokemon. 

Now Melinda _knew_ she was getting too far away from the house; she couldn't hear the two Gengars' raucous laughing coming at all now. But right now finding the source of the mysterious cries was more important. Thankfully, she didn't have to look for too much longer; Melinda caught sight of something trying to wrestle free from an unpruned rose bush. 

"Oh no..." Although she wasn't quite able to see what it was, Melinda ran over to try and get it free.

...

Logan opened the back door to the backyard, trying to see any trace of Melinda. She hadn't responded when he called for her to come back in for lunch. Behind him, Gengar and Violetta poked their heads out to get a look for themselves. 

"Of all the times for her to disappear..." Then Logan suddenly recalled an incident some years back, and turned to look down at Gengar. 

"Do you think maybe you could go and check out Charlotte's flower garden, Gengar? I get the feeling that's where she might have gone." Without hesitation, Gengar nodded and quickly waddled out to the other end of the backyard, leaving Logan and Violetta behind. In a near instant, Gengar hopped into the overgrown garden, and began his search. 

"Gengar!" He called out to Melinda as loud as he could. "Gengar, Gengar!"

He scurried about throughout the garden, constantly getting a faceful of tangled flowers and trees. It was after about the dozenth time it happened that Gengar decided he needed to take drastic action. He raised one of his hands, causing it to glow an eerie purplish color. 

For a few moments, Gengar's ever-present smile faded a bit; he'd helped Charlotte with her flower garden when she was alive, and it pained him to have to destroy part of it now. But he told himself that if he didn't do so, he might not be able to find Melinda. With a bit of a slump, he uttered a slow, sad "Gengarrrrr..." in apology to Charlotte, before then unleashing his Shadow Claw. 

...

Melinda was caught off guard when she heard the slashing of plants, nearly dropping the Pokemon she'd found and held in her arms. She calmed somewhat when she caught sight of a pair of familiar purple ears; all Gengars had them, but only one she knew of had one that folded down a bit. 

"Gengar!" She cried out to him, shaking a hand free and waving to him. "Over here!" Immediately, Gengar tunneled through the now much thinner overgrowth, popping out in front of her with a jumping flip. 

"Oh thank goodness it's you, Gengar!" Melinda knelt down in front of him. "Listen, can you go get my dad? I might need his help, and I don't think I should leave right now." 

Looking into her arms, Gengar caught sight of a wounded Vulpix, of the Alolan variant. Behind them, an Alolan Ninetales lay on the ground, unconscious and badly injured.  Why they were here in this part of the world, there wasn't really an explanation. Nevertheless, Gengar nodded quickly, and waddled back out to go get Logan and Violetta. 


	7. Chapter 7

Gengar had ended up running so fast, he ended up tripping over his own feet and falling down a couple times. Trying to get somewhere quickly with such short legs was no mean feat. It was in fact one of the times that Gengar wished he were still one of his previous evolutions. Nevertheless, he kept going. 

He didn't even give Logan time to ask where Melinda was upon reaching them, before grabbing hold of Logan's hand and tugging him in the direction he came from. Then it became Violetta's turn to stumble and face plant onto the ground as she tried to keep up with the other two. 

It then took another Shadow Claw for Gengar to bring Logan and Violetta to where Melinda and the Alolan Pokemon were. Quickly, the group worked to free Ninetales from the brambles it was stuck in (without grabbing any of its tails of course). Logan had to stop Violetta from recklessly tugging at the brambles; he was afraid that she was going to make it worse. 

Eventually, the Ninetales was freed; off to the side, Melinda had finished patching up Vulpix, letting it run over to its parent once she let go. 

...

After the two pairs led the Alolan Vulpix and Ninetales out of the garden, they were left waving goodbye to them as the latter two walked off. Vulpix sat on its parent's back and watched all of them, and looked to lift up a tail in return. Ninetales looked over its shoulder, and did the same. Melinda had to stop herself from squealing in delight at this. When they were finally gone, the group headed back to the house. 

"So..." Melinda was at a bit of a loss over what had unfolded earlier. "Did that happen a lot when I wasn't living here? Like, when Mom was still alive?" 

Logan shrugged. "The garden wasn't in as bad shape as it is now, but wild Pokemon did come by a lot. Must've liked the smell of her Sweet Williams or something. That was probably the first time a Pokemon showed up since her death."

Here Logan sighed. "She'd always loved seeing what kinds would show up, but what she _really_ wanted to see was some kind of Alolan Pokemon. One finally does appear, and she isn't around to see it." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Ain't that just a kick in the proverbial teeth." 

Then Logan turned to look at Gengar. "It was probably the closest she ever got to having a Pokemon of her own; her own mother didn't want her running around in the world with 'those filthy creatures', as your grandma would call them.

"I guess it just stuck with her," he continued on when he pulled a hand back out and petted Gengar on the head. "Needless to say, though, she was very happy to know I had my own lifelong companion." Logan smirked. "Isn't that right?"

"Gengar!" 

"Yeah, you were the one who introduced us, you with your antics. Trying to pretend to work in the garden section. Too bad she didn't buy it for a second. But she appreciated the effort. Oh, and you juggling some of the potted plants, she enjoyed that, too." 

When all of them were inside, Violetta quickly hobbled over and jumped up towards the house phone. 

"I get the feeling she wants to order supper already," Melinda said to her father. In response, Gengar went to her side to help her. 

Great minds thought alike, it seemed. Violetta held the phone receiver while Gengar pressed the speed dial button for a local pizza place. 


	8. Chapter 8

At a tiny little pizza place somewhere in town, the new guy was bored out of his mind, having no customers as of yet on his first shift. He was left to tap his finger on the hard surface of his post, listening to some crappy easy listening station. In the kitchen behind him, his boss was occupied with keeping things going just in case. 

"Wouldn't kill her to put a TV in here or something," he muttered to himself. He was disregarding the fact that the pizza shop was barely a step above 'hole-in-the-wall' status; the few chairs and tables in the place didn't match the decor at all. About the most well-put together thing about the place was the delivery van out in the back. 

Before the new guy stood up and declared he was quitting, the phone rang. He groaned and flopped back down to answer it, beginning to state the lines he was told to say. 

"How may I help you-" he was cut off by rapid-fire jabbering, which he couldn't keep up with. He sighed, and yelled for his boss, claiming "some weirdo is trying to prank call us!" In a near-instant, she was in the main area and took the call. Right away, her face went from potential frustration to complete delight. 

"Oh hi, Gengar!" She chirped in a fairly bright voice. "Is it Friday already?" She briefly covered the mouthpiece and looked over at the new guy. "He's our best customer." She walked away with the phone, leaving her new employee confused and dumbfounded. "I bet you want the usual, right...?" 

_**-about a half hour later-** _

Logan and Melinda were seated at the dinner table, watching the two Gengars dance happily as the pizza van drove up, both of them singing in unison. When the door opened, out came a confused looking young man who quickly walked up to the front door of the house, and prepared to knock. 

He had just lifted his fist up when Gengar yanked the door open, already trying to jump up and grab hold of what he desired. Behind him, Violetta held Logan's wallet as she dug out the right amount of change. 

"Those two make quite the team," Melinda said. Logan just nodded and went "Mm-Hmm". 

When Gengar and Violetta returned, both of them balancing various boxes onto their heads, the family was quick to open and chow down. 

"So..." Melinda tried keeping conversation as she pulled out a couple slices of pepperoni. "You said Gengar helped you meet Mom?" 

"He did. She and I met at the department store, of all places. I remember standing in the junk food section trying to figure out what I wanted as a weekend treat for me and Gengar." 

Logan glanced up to watch Gengar pile his plate up to a staggering degree, then went on. "I turned to ask him what he wanted, and wouldn't you know it, the little punk ran off without me ever noticing!" Again, he looked at Gengar, who was staring at him now. "Yes, I'm talking about you! 

"Anyway, I'm wandering the entire department store for at least a half hour, yelling out 'Gengar! Gengar!' while all the other shoppers are staring at me. Kind of embarrassing, really. I finally find him in the garden section, trying to juggle some potted plants to entertain a lady. He must've followed her or something." 

It was here, then, that Logan began snorting. "The keyword here being 'trying'. By the time I get to him, he's already made a huge mess around himself. So many flowers and smashed pots everywhere! And all the dirt! I pitied the worker that had to clean it all up after we left. But anyway, he sees me, and starts gathering up all the flowers and hands them to me." 

Then Logan displayed a wistful smile. "Then he starts pointing at _her_ , like he's telling me to give them to her. How could I say no to that face?" He glanced over at Gengar again, and pointed at his perpetual grin. " _That_ there's the face, just not as covered with pizza sauce of course." 

He didn't say anything in regards to Violetta trying to sneak a slice of pizza off of her dad's plate. "And after that, well...I think you know the rest. You kind of resulted from it." 

Melinda had nothing to say then, but it was clear that she enjoyed hearing the story. 


	9. Chapter 9

Later that night, as Melinda was laying down trying to get comfortable on the floor, she heard what sounded like a glass falling to the ground and shattering everywhere.Going by the direction of the sound, she assumed it came from the kitchen. Right away, Melinda guessed that they were being robbed.

She sat up and looked over to see Violetta awake; there was no doubt she heard it as well. A glance at her other side, however, revealed that Gengar wasn't in bed. Melinda could only hope that nothing terrible had happened to him. 

As quietly and discreetly as possible, she got to her hands and knees and started crawling the distance to her father's room. Violetta was right behind her. It was one of those times both of them were glad to have the kitchen on the other side of the house. 

Without warning, Melinda knocked something over, to her absolute horror. The noise it made while it toppled over was loud, almost unnaturally so.

Melinda clapped her hands over her mouth, trying to stay quiet so as not to be discovered. As she waited for the commotion to resume, Violetta snuck past her, and reached Logan's room by herself. It took seemingly forever to decide to keep moving, not that it actually mattered after all. 

Only after moving a few more inches, she was suddenly grabbed and had a gloved hand clap over her mouth. 

...

Violetta felt extremely guilty over leaving Melinda out there on her own. Having sensed that there were more than one burglar, and one was very close by, she went on alone to get Logan and her father. 

To her surprise, both of them were awake and alert. Logan peered out from behind his bed, while Gengar stared out from under it. 

"Is that you, Vi?" Logan whispered. "Where's Melinda?" With a look of guilt on her face, Violetta pointed out of the room, giving an implication as to her owner's whereabouts. Indeed, all of them could then hear Melinda struggling with someone out in the other room. 

Logan's expression then changed from terrified to determined. Reaching downwards, he gently tugged on Gengar's tail, which was poking out from under the mattress. 

"You know what to do, right?" He murmured to him. 

"Gengar!" Was what he got for an answer. Gengar then crawled out and hobbled out to the other room. Once he was gone, Violetta took his hiding place for herself. 

...

"Come on, pretty lady!" The burglar hissed as Melinda struggled against his grip. "Why you gotta make this so difficult?" As he tried to get her to quit fighting him, his buddy came out to see what was taking him so long. 

"Dammit Roy," was what he said to him. "Can't you go one heist without thinking about getting laid?" 

The other burglar scoffed, ignoring Melinda's efforts to bite him. "Come on, man! Just look at her! She's looking well aged, if you ask me. Not often we get the older ladies to bust against-" He stopped talking when all of them felt a most sudden chill in the room; in but a single second, it felt like the air dropped almost ten degrees. 

"Uhhh...did the AC just kick in?" This was not possible; Logan's house didn't have an air conditioner. Therefore, neither of them could figure out why the air just went cold. 

But Melinda knew. She quit fighting the burglar's grip to smirk at what was going to happen. A few moments later, as she had expected, the other burglar began screaming and pointing at a random spot in the darkness behind the other two. 

The man holding Melinda was forced to let her go, now seeing what his buddy was yelling at, and joining him. Scrambling to crawl away from them, Melinda turned to look behind her and saw Gengar's red eyes and wide smile, altogether looking demented and sadistic. Then, out of the other bedroom, she saw her father and Violetta appear. 

"Gengar!" Logan called out to him, pointing at the other two men. "Use Sludge Bomb!" On cue, Gengar's cheeks began to swell quickly, causing his teeth to briefly disappear. Then, after another brief moment, he let loose a huge wad of disgusting, foul-smelling purple goo directly onto the burglars. 

Melinda wasn't quite sure what exactly he spat out at them, but it was enough to make them fall to the floor and scream loudly. The two of them tried in vain to get the mess off, only making it spread more onto their skin. 

...

When the police arrived, the four of them watched as the two burglars were led away in handcuffs. Both men were still hollering in pain, clearly still affected by the sludge despite it being wiped off of them now. It was astounding how none of them were too upset by this. Rather, they were amazed, or at least Melinda was. 

"I can't believe," she said while looking over at him, "that Gengar may have just potentially blinded two men, and not seem bothered by it." As she described, Gengar was just sitting on a porch swing that Logan had, merrily rocking away on it. Next to him, Violetta was also helping him move it back and forth. Clearly the two were amused by the sight. 

Logan scoffed. "Considering they were two robbers who were threatening his owner's daughter, I'm surprised he didn't kill them." He looked over at her, a serious look on his face now. "And you know he'd do it, too." After that, all of them were quiet, watching as the police cars drove away, with the criminals still crying out in agony. Once the cars were gone, all of them went back into the dark house to get back to sleep. 


	10. Chapter 10

_-fifty three years ago-_

Ever since his father died a few weeks before, seven year old Logan didn't really come out of his treehouse. He didn't even come down for dinner, or bedtime; instead, he had a sleeping bag and a stash of snacks he could add to when he liked (he had an awful lot of allowances saved up over the last few months). 

In fact, besides aforementioned snack runs, going to school, and using the bathroom, he barely came out of it at all. Not even his mother or her Pokemon could coax him out. 

"Logan!" She called out to him one night. "Logan, come and have dinner. I made your favorite!" 

She still didn't receive an answer. Waiting a little longer to see if he'd just been delaying his choice, she gave up and went back into the house. Through the window of his treehouse, Logan peeked over the edge of it to watch her go. He then crawled back to his designated sleeping spot, and curled up. Logan wasn't there for long, however, when he heard another voice. 

"Saur! _Saur_!" Going back to the window, Logan leaned out a bit to see his mother's Venusaur standing at the foot of the tree. 

"Venusaur, what are you doing?" He watched as Venusaur used her vines to pick up a picnic basket sitting next to her, and lifted it up to the treehouse window. Right away, he could smell a thermos of tomato soup, and a freshly-made grilled cheese sandwich. Hesitantly, he took it from her. 

"I..." He felt Venusaur then extend a vine to pat him on the head. "Thanks, Venusaur." 

With that, Venusaur turned back and lumbered on back into the house. 

**_-a few hours later-_ **

Comfortably encased in his sleeping bag, Logan had only just fallen asleep when he awoke once more, feeling like someone dragged their fingernails up his spine. Trembling, he peeked out and searched the now darkened treehouse. 

"Hello?" He called out while glancing through the void. "Mom? Venusaur? Anyone there?" 

Logan crawled out of his sleeping bag and got to his feet. Squinting to see better, he saw the picnic basket from earlier knocked over onto its side. It showed clear signs of being messed with. Seeing nothing else out of the ordinary, Logan shrugged and turned back to his sleeping bag.

He was stopped, though, by a pair of eyes floating right in front of his face. Almost instantly, he screamed and fell right back down to the floor. He then crawled backwards towards the entrance of the treehouse. 

"W-who...?" Logan swallowed and tried to steady his breathing. "What...?"

"Gaaaaaassssstlyyyyy..." Was the drawn out answer given to him. 

Now Logan was trying to figure out what drove a Gastly to visit him in the first place. As he tried to think, he watched it fly around him in circles, sounding as if it were laughing. 

"Are you here to curse me?" Gastly answered in the negative. "Did you hear my dad died recently, and decided to take advantage of us grieving him?" Again, the answer was no. "So how come you're here?"

To try and tell him this, Gastly floated over to the picnic basket and circled it. 

"Ohhh..." Logan was starting to understand a little bit now. "You smelled my dinner and came to check it out. Right?" 

Gastly nodded. "Gaaasss..." Crawling over, Logan pulled the remains of his meal. 

"Sorry," he told Gastly. "This is all I got left." He could only pour out a cupful of soup, and the crusts from his grilled cheese that had bits of cheese still on them. "I'd let you have some of my snacks, but I don't have any right now." 

Then he got an idea. "But if you come back tomorrow night, I'll be sure to have some for you then! Okay?" 

Neither Logan nor Gastly knew it at the time, but this small act of kindness would spark a most powerful companionship that would last over half a century. 


	11. Chapter 11

"You know, Gengar," Melinda said when she and the two Gengars were at the store the next morning, "you don't have to push the cart _for_ me. I can do it myself." 

For some reason, though, Gengar insisted. His hands could barely reach the handle of the cart, meaning he had to get onto his toes to really get anywhere. Up ahead, Violetta found herself in the bin of discounted candy that nobody really liked. The way she dug through all the boxes caused some of them to land on the floor, making a mess. 

Logan hadn't been feeling well that morning, resulting in the other three having to go to a storewide sale without him. It was either that, or have one of the Gengars stay home and feed him soup. He almost chose that, actually. 

When Melinda and Gengar reached Violetta, roughly half of the candy found in the bin was scattered all over the place. The mess got Melinda to feel quite mortified, especially when she saw a store employee approaching now. 

"Aw, jeez..." She looked in at Violetta. "You find the kind you want yet? You're making a scene-" 

"Ma'am?" Melinda turned to see the employee now. 

She scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, sir. I think there's a particular candy she wants out of there..." While Melinda was distracted, Gengar had jumped in and helped his daughter in her search. 

...

When that mess was dealt with, Melinda was pushing the cart now. Behind her, the two Gengars were doing their happy dance over finally obtaining that which Violetta was desperate to find: 

A box of Raisinets. 

Now the three were strolling through the beverage aisle. Or rather, Melinda was; Violetta had quickly run over to the refrigerated section and grabbed the nearest large carton of (what else?) chocolate milk. Upon seeing her do this, she rolled her eyes and looked down at Gengar. 

"When she was born," she said to him, "did you ever wonder if she was going to be this obsessed with something?" Gengar just shrugged, before turning to grab a couple twelve packs of Mountain Dew. 

"Speaking of...Do you ever hear from your other kids anymore?" It had still astounded Melinda and her parents when Gengar had suddenly vanished one day, and showed up again just as abruptly about a fortnight later. What made it even more so was the fact he managed to be holding five eggs in his little arms. 

Long story short, he ended up with three sons and two daughters (One of whom was of course Violetta). All of them were given to other families and aspiring trainers except for her; she ended up being a graduation present when Melinda finished high school. 

Now that same graduation present was grabbing as many cartons of chocolate milk as she could. 

...

"Uh, Dad?" After the three of them returned home, Melinda poked her head through the front door. She seemed ashamed to ask of him for assistance, but the Gengars didn't really give her much of a choice. "Think maybe you can help me bring groceries in?"

She waited for some kind of answer, which came as Logan rubbing his eyes and stretching his back. 

"I figured you'd need help even if you didn't ask," he said to her as he came outside to reach the truck. "Gengar has a tendency to buy a whole lot of junk food and pop. So if he's got Violetta now, well..." 

Both Gengar and Violetta stood in the back of the truck, searching the bags for their desired goodies. When a bag didn't have what they wanted, they just kicked it aside and kept looking. 

Logan and Melinda could only shrug, grinning and bearing it as they grabbed the bags and brought them all into the house. 


	12. Chapter 12

To the surprise of no one, Halloween was Gengar and Violetta's favorite holiday (though Christmas was an extremely close second). Now that it was coming in only a couple weeks, the both of them were going insane preparing for it. 

Melinda and Logan mostly watched as the other two set up orange lights, pumpkins, and skeletons all around the house. They tried helping, but the Gengars didn't want their assistance. 

"Funny how this only really became a thing twenty years ago," Logan told Melinda while he tried not to get bowled over. "Before that, we never really had a reason after you said you got too old to go trick-or-treating.

"Then _**someone,**_ " he went on with a bit of emphasis, referring to Gengar, "decided to randomly go off carousing one day. Then we had a reason to celebrate Halloween again when he got back." 

Melinda just gave a grin that managed to be both wry and genuine. "Kind of fitting for a Ghost-type to have their birthday on the spookiest day of the year, though."

Indeed, it had been sheer coincidence that Violetta and her siblings hatched on Halloween two decades before. It was a good coincidence, though; it meant they got to have both candy and birthday cake (or whatever baked goods Gengar managed to put together), cavities be damned. 

"Truth be told, shenanigans or not, Gengar is a good dad in his own ways," Logan continued. "I remember one time when Violetta was playing one of the games on that old Genesis system I had -I don't remember which game-, and she, of course, was having a hard time on it. So Gengar went over and plugged in Player 2, and the both of them managed to finish the game together. Remember that?" 

Thinking about it, Melinda could indeed recall it happening, when she was visiting her parents that time. Violetta had been on the verge of rage-quitting (in her defense, the TV was from long before the digital age, so the graphics weren't that great), so Gengar stepped in to help her out.

Before long, the both of them were doing their usual singing and dancing when they were overjoyed with something. Melinda would've joined them, but she was heavily pregnant with Jason at the time. Nevertheless, she was happy to see them celebrating over something. 

"Yeah, I remember." She quick glanced over at the two Gengars, who were again doing their happy dance during a break in decorating. "And from the looks of it, they remember, too." 

...

Once Gengar and Violetta were done doing the best possible decorating about the house (which was surprisingly well, given all their running about and knocking things over), everyone was settled in front of the TV watching anything that came on. Mostly, it was commercials for the coming holiday. 

"Some of these are so cheesy," Melinda remarked after a few of them. 

"You used to like the cheesy commercials," Logan said to her. "You said they could always make you laugh no matter what they were about." 

Melinda rolled her eyes. "I also used to make Gengar play dress up and have fake tea parties with me. But some things change."

Both of them then looked over at Gengar and Violetta, who were snickering at a particularly bad commercial. 

"And some things don't, I guess."


	13. Chapter 13

Melinda stared at the fair attraction before her, rather unimpressed with their choice. To relay this strange indifference, she turned to look at the others. When she did, said indifference turned into an expression that seemed to epitomize the word 'Seriously?'.

"A haunted house? Really? Seems a tad cliche, don't you think?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Logan tried explaining this while then gesturing to Gengar and Violetta. "I asked the two of them where they wanted to go, and this is what they chose." Next to him, the other two were casually eating and drinking all of the numerous goodies they'd bought from the concession stands. 

Logan then sighed. "I think I've spoiled Gengar too much over the years." He then reached over and tried to remove a sticky lollipop that found itself under Gengar's folded ear. 

Now it was Melinda's turn to shrug and sigh. "I guess to be fair, he has been there for me a lot over the years; I don't know many other Pokemon who bothered to be their owner's kid's playmate, _and_  learn to drive in case of emergencies and parent-teacher conferences.

"And if it weren't for _him_ ," she went on, glancing over at Violetta, who was slurping (what else?) chocolate milk out of a carton with a straw. "I wouldn't have gotten _her_. So maybe he deserves to be spoiled, at least a little bit." 

...

Once the four of them were actually in the haunted house, it wasn't what any of them expected it to be. Namely, it wasn't all that scary to begin with. Going by the looks on their faces, Gengar and Violetta were regretting their choice. Not that they'd tell Logan and Melinda that. 

"So..." Melinda kept glancing back and forth furtively, on the lookout for any sign that this was going to get better. "I'm guessing whoever built this place obviously doesn't know that haunted houses are supposed to be, uh...haunted?" But as she spoke, the house was indeed beginning to show signs that mocking it was a bad idea. 

As Logan and Gengar lagged behind, there ended up being a good chunk of space between them and the girls. Because of this, they both fell victim to some unknown trap that separated them from Melinda and Violetta. 

"Maybe if we turn back now, the people will still refund our tickets, right Dad?" When she received no answer like she always did, Melinda stopped walking and turned to look over her shoulder. "Dad? _Dad_? Gengar? Where'd you guys go?" Violetta also started looking behind her, the way she was saying "Gengar?!" showing her clear worry. 

The two started backtracking in the hallway, seeing neither hide nor hair of their dads. Then, without even noticing it was there, Melinda stepped on a hidden switch (which was why she didn't know about it, of course). Said switch gave way to a large hole in the floor, leading to an equally as large slide. A slide that Melinda and Violetta were now going down a bit too quickly.

Both of them screamed in fear while clutching each other, as they hurtled down various curves and bumps, seemingly without end. Melinda could've sworn her hair was on the verge of catching fire, she was going down so fast. When the ride did end, both of them landed onto a floor that was just a bit too uncomfortable. 

It took Melinda a little bit to re-orient herself again as she got to her feet. When she did, she was still wobbling with each step she took. And yet, Melinda didn't seem to have been affected nearly as badly as Violetta had been. 

"Ow!" She rubbed the back of her head as she resumed looking around. "Well, that's just  _great_. As if I needed a reminder of how old I'm getting..." She cut herself off when she heard vomiting noises right behind her. 

Vi, evidently, couldn't keep all the sweets and junk food down; she was standing off to the side, hurling it all back up alongside her chocolate milk. All of the regurgitated mess looked and smelled quite foul; Melinda couldn't help but pinch her nose and try to wave the smell away. 

"Ewww...When we get home, I'm making you gargle the entire bottle of mouthwash."


	14. Chapter 14

After patiently waiting for Violetta to finish upchucking, Melinda walked on ahead. As Vi stumbled to catch up, she didn't even bother to wipe the puke off the sides of her mouth. She was just in that much of a hurry. While the both of them went further in, Melinda was starting to feel very uneasy. 

"I take back what I said earlier," she mumbled. "This place gives me the creeps." Violetta made a sound that seemed to indicate she agreed wholeheartedly. To ease both their fears, Melinda changed the subject. "Didn't one of your siblings end up being shiny when you guys all hatched? Was it one of your brothers?" 

While she talked, Melinda took closer notice of her surroundings; the wallpaper and decor were respectively starting to peel and rot. Still, she kept talking. 

"I'm asking because I just remembered today was your birthday, and I was curious-" 

Melinda was suddenly cut off by a loud noise that sounded a bit too much like groaning. It was enough to make her stop in her tracks. In turn, Vi ran to hide behind her, and hugged her legs. 

"You heard that too? Good, because I didn't want to feel like I'm hearing things that aren't really there-" 

She was cut off again, this time by the sound of a large object crashing down behind them. Glancing behind them, Melinda cringed when she saw the door they came through had collapsed. 

"Ohhh, well, that's just _great_!" She sarcastically yelled for the second time, throwing up her hands in frustration. "Today is not my day, is it?" 

Melinda wasn't sure, but she thought she could feel Vi trembling against the backs of her legs. Trying to ignore this, Melinda gently pulled free and turned back in the direction they were going. 

"Guess all we can really do now is keep searching. There's gotta be an exit around here somewhere..."

The two girls pressed on, trying not to get too distracted by the increasingly rotted surrounding area. Eventually, they reached a plain, yet suspicious door. 

"Hmmm..." Melinda looked down at Violetta. "Hey Vi? Remember that time you found that TM disc in the attic of our old house? By any chance did you learn the move on it?" 

Violetta nodded, before hobbling over in front of the door. She then held her hands a short distance apart from each other, and concentrated as hard as she could. Once Melinda saw a blue sphere of light beginning to manifest, she stepped back a couple of feet. 

Then Vi released the sphere, completely smashing the door apart. Seeing all the pieces and splinters fly everywhere, Melinda could only gawk wide-eyed. 

"Remind me never to piss you off, okay Vi?" 

...

In the pitch black room, Logan and Gengar could hear the girls talking, and wood smashing apart. The two of them remained quiet; neither of them wanted to blow their cover right away. 

"Think we need to find a light switch in here, Vi?" They could hear Melinda saying. Gengar seemed to decide that was their cue; he'd pulled out some kind of button and slammed his flattened palm against it. Once he did, the completely dark room lit up instantly. When the lights were all on, the group all shouted at once: 

" ** _Surprise_**!"

Melinda and Violetta were indeed quite surprised; for a few moments, they could only stand and stare. 

"There's the birthday girl!" Logan approached Violetta and set a party hat onto her head. "We were wondering how long it'd take for the both of you to show up."

Still in a condition of being stunned, Melinda looked over at everything. All around her were familiar faces. It looked as though her ex-husband and their son were there, as were her son's Pokemon. It was the two of them she approached first. 

"So..." Melinda wasn't sure how to ask Andrei about everything. "How involved were you all in this?" 

Andrei shrugged. "Your father needed party guests, he said to me, Jason, and the other three." Nearby, they could all hear Farfetch'd and Grovyle bickering over a piece of cake. Bonsly, though, was sitting nicely like a good Pokemon. "He, uh, was very persuasive." 

While Andrei was talking, Jason blew into a noisemaker he randomly had. It seemed as if he were ready to celebrate already.

Nearby, Violetta was dancing and clapping with Gengar. Alongside them were another Gengar, two Haunters (one of whom was colored differently), and a Gastly. 

Surely, all of them were happy to see each other again. The fact it was on their shared birthday just made it better. 

When Logan announced it was cake time, everyone clambered to get a good slice. Now he was probably wishing he'd had another one made. He wasn't expecting there to be any leftovers, at least. 


	15. Chapter 15

Now that Halloween was over and done with, Melinda and Logan had the unenviable task of putting away all the decorations. Logan would often let Gengar keep the decorations up for a few days after in the past, but they had to come down eventually. 

"Uhhh..." Melinda was trying to figure out what to do with the rotted pumpkins (while trying to prevent Violetta from eating them). "Have you ever thought about making pumpkin pies at all, Dad?" While she asked, she held her nose shut so as not to actually smell the decaying stench. 

Logan thought wistfully before answering her. "That was more your mother's thing. I'm clueless when it comes to baking. Now that your mother's gone, well..." He looked off into the boxes in the shed before continuing. "I can only hope Gengar learned enough from her when he helped her out during those times.

"Speaking of which..." He walked back into the shed a bit, looking to see where precisely Gengar had ended up. Thankfully, he didn't have to look all that long; one of the larger boxes labeled "Holiday Stuff" was shaking a bit erratically. Reaching over to try and open it, it burst open of its (mostly) own accord: 

"Gengar!" With a pair of stockings on his ears and Christmas lights all over the rest of him, Gengar popped out like some kind of festive jack-in-the-box.

It took a second or two for the other three to stare, before they all burst out into laughter. Logan had to restrain himself to remove everything off of him, wiping away tears of absolute mirth. 

"Not just yet, buddy," he said to him as he pulled the stockings off, still chuckling a bit. "Just because the stores already have their holiday stuff out, doesn't mean _we_ have to right now. How about you wait until December 1st? _Then_ you can think about doing your usual holiday entrance." 

Then he looked over at Melinda and Violetta. "Can you girls help me get these lights off of him? He's got them wrapped up on him pretty good..." 

...

After the decorations were all put away, the four of them were poring over a bunch of old family photos. Melinda was actually a bit surprised that Logan bothered to keep all of them in one place; he and her mother liked to show pictures of all their loved ones (even if Gengar showed up as only eyes and teeth in most of the early ones). 

"See, here you are on the day you came home," Logan told her while pointing at the corresponding photo. "And here's your first birthday, and your first day of school..." Melinda smiled at all the frozen memories, seeing Gengar's floating face somewhere in all of them. 

Logan turned the page, and then chuckled at the first picture he saw. "Oh, and here's all of us taking a family photo for a Christmas card. I had to get help from a friend for that one." Interestingly enough, Gengar was completely visible on that one. Just like earlier, however, he was covered in stockings and Christmas lights. 

Nevertheless, Melinda decided not to ask why that was. Instead, she just kept quiet and looked at the photos. 

"And here you are with Andrei on your sixteenth birthday. Both of you looked so happy back then, I may never understand his reasons for divorcing you. Oh, and here you are on graduation day with Violetta-" 

"Gengar!" 

"That's right, Vi! You were only a few months old then! A few months old, and already getting up to trouble with your dad! Now, here you are on..."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very short chapter because reasons

Early one morning, Melinda was having trouble going back to sleep. She didn't know why, she just was. This led to her standing in the kitchen at four-thirty a.m., rummaging through the fridge for some kind of early breakfast. No sooner did she close the door, though, that she was caught off guard. 

"Gengar?!" His red eyes were half-shut, and he was casually scratching himself (somehow). He looked up sleepily at her, his usual maniacal grin softened from tiredness. Quietly, he let out a little "Gar." 

"Don't tell me you still get up early in the morning once in a while to raid the fridge," Melinda said to him while putting a hand on her hip (the other one was holding a couple sandwich fixings). 

"Gar." 

Melinda was just going to take that as a yes. 

...

The miniature banquet laid between them on the floor wasn't really anything to write home about. Nevertheless, both of them were happy to partake in their bounty. 

"I still can't believe you and I used to do this all the time," Melinda said to Gengar as she watched him cut off a chunk of colby jack with a cheese slicer. "The first time you caught me going through the fridge early in the morning, I was afraid you were going to tell Mom and Dad." 

She paused, first to think and second to accept some of the cheese Gengar sliced off. "But to be fair, at that moment I'd forgotten that I had a cool uncle.

"And I guess having me living here again brought back memories or something?" Gengar nodded once, which looked funny considering how he was shaped. "I guess that's going to be a normal thing for a while though. Memory lane and nostalgia or whatever." 

The two proceeded to eat in silence for a little while. Then Melinda piped up again:

"Hey, Gengar?" 

"Geh?" 

"How come you wrecked my spring ride from when I was a kid?" 


	17. Chapter 17

"So...remind me again what compelled you to come here tonight?" 

Melinda followed behind her father as they looked for a good seat in the theater. Behind her, Gengar and Violetta trudged along with various concession stand purchases held above their heads. 

Logan gave a sort of half-shrug. "Old times sake, I guess. This old place has always had a theater for their older movies. Didn't really appreciate them until recently, though. Your mother on the other hand..." 

Once the four of them finally found a place to sit down, Logan proceeded to grab hold of one of the large popcorn tubs Gengar held out to him. He then cringed when he learned firsthand precisely how much liquid butter the Gengars asked for on it. 

"I remember the last time I brought your mother here," he went on as he wiped his hand on his pants. "I think by then her illness went terminal. Still, she insisted. We ended up watching some mushy rom com or...something. I don't really remember what it was about." 

Logan popped a couple pieces of popcorn into his mouth and ate them before talking again. "It was terrible, and I think the audience knew it; we were all laughing at the parts meant to be serious. And I do mean all of us." 

To this, Melinda gave a single good-natured laugh. Her grin then faded as she looked away from her father. 

"I only wish I'd been there for Mom before she..." She couldn't finish her sentence. In an attempt to cheer her up, Violetta patted her on the back and offered her some of her chocolate milk. 

"She understood why you couldn't be," Logan whispered to her. "She was sad you weren't there, but she didn't hold it against you. You know she never would've."

As he talked, Logan had forgotten about his popcorn. When he was talking, he'd grabbed another handful, only to drop it back in. 

"All right, really Gengar? Did you ask the people to dump the whole bottle into this?" 

Looking away now, Melinda watched as a mix of people and Pokemon filed in at the last minute before the movie started. She grew wistful at the thought of her mother walking into this theater one last time. She then suppressed her laughter when she saw a Machamp and Miltank walk in, both wearing shirts with the other Pokemon on it. 

Once everyone was seated, the movie began. 


	18. Chapter 18

Running the gamut from elaborate colored glass to flimsy cardboard, Melinda, Logan, and the Gengars were insistent on taking out all the ornaments for their tree. It was, after all, a decent sized fake evergreen; it had to be properly trimmed to their preferences. 

"I cannot _believe_ you and Mom kept all these," Melinda said to her father when she pulled out an old, weathered snowflake piece made of painted popsicle sticks. "Most of these I made in elementary school. Hell, this one I made in _kindergarten_!" She stared at it in disbelief, apparently curious as to how it hadn't splintered to pieces after over thirty years. 

"And why wouldn't I keep them? They're made by my daughter, so that means they're valuable. To me, at least." Logan took a few moments to wrap a long string of lights around the tree. "All right, looks like I might need to use the extension cord. Vi, be a dear and go get it from the storage shed?" 

Violetta didn't hesitate to run off to do what she was asked. The other three watched her go, chuckling to themselves over how excited she was to help.

Meanwhile, Gengar was occupying himself with organizing some candy canes by color and flavor (there were more than peppermint in this day and age). Other than that, Melinda noticed he had a bunch of one kind sitting in a small pile behind him; none of them were in the other sets. 

"Hey, Dad?" When she got Logan's attention, she pointed to the pile behind Gengar. "What flavor are those?" Logan peeked out from behind the tree, and then rolled his eyes when he saw what Gengar was doing. 

"Gengar," he said to him as he walked back out in front of the tree, "if you wanted Mountain Dew candy canes so badly, I'll get you some later at the store. Okay?" Gengar didn't look all too happy when he'd realized he'd basically been tattled on, but he turned around and gathered them all back up anyway. 

...

Now that Vi returned with the extension cord, the lights were plugged in and everyone stood in sparkle-eyed awe at the gorgeous display before them. 

"I...guess it was worth all the pain of dragging it out of the shed?" Melinda said to break the silence. "Seriously, it's huge.

"When did you get this one anyway? I swear the one I remember wasn't nearly this gigantic. Unless I'm remembering it wrong..."

Logan picked up a box of ornaments and proceeded to begin decorating. He looked deep in thought while hanging up a little ceramic Charmander. _Very_ deep in thought. 

"I want to say...estate sale? I went there once with Gengar to find something your mother might like. You were pretty young, so...I think the neighbor lady watched you?" He clarified which neighbor lady, as he and Charlotte had had numerous people coming and going over the years. "The one with the Stoutland you would always try to ride." 

Now it was all coming back to her; she did indeed recall riding an enormous Stoutland at a young age. 

"Oh yeah. Miss Fletcher and Stache. How are they doing, if you know?" 

A saddened look came upon his face now. "She ended up dying of a stroke twenty five years ago. He ended up being shipped off to one of her distant relatives. After that, I don't know. 

"Strange thing about it, though," he kept on, "when they found her body, he was sitting right next to her. The authorities said he kept watch even though he knew she was dead. Loyal to the end, I guess."

Then it went quiet, with only the rustling sound of the fake tree branches being heard. The mood certainly went solemn very quickly. Then Melinda had a somewhat related thought as she started on hanging candy canes: 

"What's going to happen to Gengar when _you_ die?" 

Logan gave a hollow sounding chuckle. "Let's just say he and I worked something out for when that happens. Hopefully not for another ten or twenty years, but...Hey, better to be safe than sorry." 

The rest of that time was spent decorating quietly (albeit with the occasional comment and tinsel-related complaint), until the tree was properly trimmed. 


	19. Chapter 19

Staring down at his fake bouquet of peonies, Logan did his best to make it look as presentable as he could. He also held them as tightly as he could, in case Melinda were to drive over a speed bump or pothole. In the back seat of Melinda's vehicle, Gengar and Violetta were messing around with a few of the other bouquets. Gengar set a couple onto his head to make himself look like some kind of free spirit, which caused Violetta to laugh uproariously. 

"Feels kind of weird that now we have to do this for Mom, along with the others," Melinda said to her father as she turned left at a traffic sign. "I'll bet her grave's going to still look all fresh and new, unlike the others." 

"That could be," Logan answered her when he now kept his eyes on the road. He looked to the right to make certain no other vehicles or roaming Pokemon were in the street. "I just hope your mother doesn't mind that she gets plastic and silk, just like the others.

"Because if you ask me," he went on while taking a closer look. "She deserves flowers made of gold and gems. But then, I'm probably just saying that because I'm her widower." He paused a little before finishing. "At least I was able to put her in the family plot."

He remained quiet afterwards, as did the other three, as they reached the cemetery and got out to walk. What with it being early winter, there was of course snow on the ground. This wasn't really a good sign, because some of the smaller gravestones would be covered up. Still, all of them trudged through it and looked for their plot.

Melinda looked about the area; a few more families were their own plots, some with Pokemon and some without. She was actually a bit envious at seeing one group with a Charizard, as they huddled around its tail for extra warmth. Seeing them doing that caused Melinda to get distracted, leading her to walk into a tree. 

"Oof!" She tried shaking it off as she got back on the right path. Just ahead of her, she could hear Logan and the Gengars quietly snickering. 

...

"Well, here we are," Logan said as they arrived at a place with a respectable amount of gravestones right next to each other. "Best we start getting down to it; we've got quite a few ancestors, relatives, and Pokemon to pay some kind of respects to."

He wasn't kidding: Melinda was a tad dumbfounded at just how many people and Pokemon in the family there had been. She actually didn't know where to start, or what flowers to start with. By watching Logan, Gengar, and Violetta doing it, however, she decided to just do it at random. 

As she did, Melinda couldn't help but notice all the different kinds of Pokemon her ancestors had. Her Great-Aunt Louise had a Furfrou. Great-great-grandpa Arnie was the proud owner of at least three Gogoats. So it went on; some ancestors shared Pokemon with others, and some had none. Once her section was done (and she was running a bit low on flowers), she joined the other three. 

...

"Hard to believe my dad died over half a century ago," Logan told Gengar and Violetta as he set his own bouquet of fake daffodils in front of his father's grave. "You know, Mom never remarried. For a long time -at least until I was old enough to move out-, it was just me, her, and Venusaur."

He scooted over to plant more, this time in front of his mother's. "She did her best, of course. Mom made sure that I was able to get a proper education, and not get into any serious trouble. Venusaur, well...she took care of pretty much everything else." By the time he put a couple of fake hibiscus flowers in front of Venusaur's grave, Logan heard Melinda coming up behind him. He stood up and brushed off any dirt on his knees. 

"Got all the others over there?" Melinda nodded, and stood in between him and Violetta. She watched as he combined the few remaining silk and plastic pieces, and made an incredibly varied ensemble. He then set it in the bronzed vase in front of Charlotte's grave. 

"Well dear," he said to the gravestone as he bent down again to set them in, "I hope this suffices for a Christmas gift this year. Kind of hard to beat last year, though; I still don't know how Gengar ordered a personal group of carolers to sing for you. He certainly loved it when you taught him Night Shade." 

Melinda and the Gengars said nothing. They just waited for Logan to stand back up and think of silent condolences and other things to say to her. After a little bit, Melinda spoke quietly:

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me the most." She couldn't go on, on account of wiping tears away from her eyes. In an effort to cheer her up, Logan patted her on the shoulder; Gengar and Violetta, on the other hand, hugged both of her legs. All of them just stood there, saying the rest of what they wanted before leaving. 

Just as they were turning to leave, all of them were caught off guard by the family with the Charizard; said Charizard shot up into the air, letting out a powerful roar. Said roar gave way to a stream of fire, which Charizard went up higher to utilize it more safely. Everyone in the graveyard looked on in awe. 

"Wow..." Was all Melinda could say as she and her father watched. Gengar and Violetta, on the other hand, couldn't stop jumping up and down in excitement. All of them just kept watching as Charizard proceeded to put on some kind of airborne fire performance. 


	20. Chapter 20

_-thirty years ago-_

"Daddy?" Logan was busy hanging up the family stockings when he heard his little daughter Melinda talking to him. Being the good father that he was, he turned and bent down to be eye level with her.

"Yes, pumpkin?"

Now Melinda looked to be deep in thought, like she'd just forgotten what she was going to tell him. Logan waited patiently for her to figure out what precisely she was going to say. Thankfully, this didn't take too incredibly long. 

"Does Santa get presents too on Christmas? If he doesn't, why not?" How like Melinda to be asking such a difficult question, even at her age. Nonetheless, Logan was determined to try and answer it as best he could. Better him than his wife (who would just brush it off as something she didn't need to know at her age) or Gengar (who'd probably distract her with some of his many tricks). 

In order to temporarily appease her, he thought of something on the fly. 

"That's a good question, sweetie," he told her when he stood back up to readjust the stockings again. "Maybe he does get presents. That is, if he wants them. Maybe he has his own Santa; some sort of Super Santa, I guess." 

He then corrected himself. "Maybe someone just sends him a Delibird, with treats and nice little gifts. You know, as a way of saying thanks for being such a generous man. And who knows? Maybe that makes him feel better about his own job. Why do you ask, anyway?" 

Now Melinda got that look again, Logan noticed it looked more pronounced this time. Hopefully she wasn't straining herself to think of an answer. 

"I thought Gengar was Santa." 

...

In the present time, Melinda was sitting in front of the lit up tree one night; the night before Christmas Eve, to be specific. Besides the hum of the fridge coming from the kitchen, it was silent. She wasn't entirely sure if she should wake any of the others up; least of all for such a silly reason as 'staring at the Christmas tree'.

As it turned out, she didn't have to after all; behind her, coming from her room, Violetta was padding out and trying to rub the sleep from her eyes. Melinda smiled just a little bit when she looked behind her shoulder to see her. 

"Came out to see me?" She whispered. Violetta just shrugged a bit, before coming over to sit next to her. After sitting there not doing anything for a bit, Violetta started poking at one of the candy canes that hung low on the tree (a regular one, naturally). She then looked over at Melinda, as though she were asking permission. 

"I won't tell either of our dads if you sneak one off for yourself," she told her. Without hesitation, Vi pulled it off the branch and unwrapped the plastic on it. She then let out her enormous tongue, only to carefully lick at it with the very tip of it. Watching this, Melinda made a note to herself to make Vi some chocolate eggnog later. 


	21. Chapter 21

"You didn't tell me Bonsly evolved." 

Making a visit to her ex-husband's house, Melinda was stunned that instead of a little dark brown creature, there was now a walking rock tree in the house. She almost had to remind herself that this was indeed her son's Bonsly, having fully evolved at some point between visits. 

Andrei shrugged. "Took us by surprise, too. You'd think he was waiting for Christmas itself before he did it." 

The both of them, sitting in a swing on Andrei's snow-covered patio, watched as Vi play battled with Jason's three pokemon. Somehow, the two teams all of them had going complemented each other quite well. Even so, Melinda and Andrei cut in whenever need be. 

"Be careful, Vi!" Melinda called out to Violetta as she saw her ready Focus Blast. "You don't want to hurt Sudowoodo _too_ badly. He's still a Rock-type, remember?" Vi nodded, and toned down the power on her move significantly. They went back to spectating as Farfetch'd (who was Vi's partner in this match) started readying her green onion like a sword. 

"I remember when you brought Jason out on his birthday, to catch his first Pokemon," Andrei said to Melinda when the both of the pokemon unleashed their (toned down) attacks. "He turned...ten, if I remember right? Well anyway, when you told me he got Farfetch'd, I didn't believe you two at first."

Here he chuckled, before continuing. "Farfetch'd evidently didn't like hearing that; she popped out of that Great Ball and let me have it. Well, I certainly believed you after that." 

"Your mother was so mad at me when she found out," Melinda interrupted, as she sat back and relaxed in the swing. "Saying something about 'endangering her precious only grandson' or some nonsense like that. Well, now he isn't her only grandson anymore, if I remember correctly."

"Yes, you're remembering correctly. At least two of my siblings have boys of their own. If nothing else, it took some of the pressure off Jason."

Melinda nodded. "And yet your mother still hates me. Dunno why. I'm guessing because we're divorced now. At least your dad and your siblings are fine with me."

"And thank goodness for that." By the time Andrei and Melinda turned to look back at the Pokemon, Violetta and Farfetch'd were holding each other's hands and dancing happily. It was obvious who had won their play dual match. At least Sudowoodo and Grovyle were good sports about it. 

...

"So where _is_ our darling little boy, anyway?" Melinda had her arms behind her head as Andrei prepared lunch for them and the Pokemon. 

"Andrei nodded. "He is. He then told me he was going to a friend's house afterwards. Well, by 'told', I actually mean-"

Melinda waved him off. "I-I know what you meant."

Her son's congenital muteness was still a bit of a sensitive topic for both parents; part of it was that still no one knew what exactly caused it. All that Melinda and Andrei knew was that when Jason didn't start speaking at the proper age to learn, something wasn't right. 

Suffice to say, his years in school hadn't been easy ones. At least he had his parents and Pokemon (including Vi). Said Pokemon were now chanting their own names and banging their fists on the table. Working as quickly as he could, Andrei and Melinda were able to calm them all with chips and sandwiches. 


	22. Chapter 22

"And you're sure they don't need any help with doing all that?" Outside, in the below freezing temperatures, Melinda huddled into herself as she watched Gengar and Vi shovel the driveway clean of snow. As they did, the both of them dumped it onto an already gargantuan pile they'd been working on. 

Sitting next to his daughter, Logan nodded. "They insisted on doing it all by themselves. I don't really know if they're doing it for a reward, or if they just want to see how much snow they can get together." Melinda didn't really see the point in the two of them shoveling right now; it was just going to be covered up in snow again later anyway. The forecast called for another snowstorm, after all. 

Then her eyes drifted to the snowbank. "I hope they're not planning on building another fort. Last one didn't exactly hold up well enough for them." This brought back the recent memory of her and Logan frantically digging both their Gengars out from underneath a collapsed snowdrift. 

Even so, Gengar and Vi happily collected as much of the powdery white stuff as they could. Once they were satisfied with the amount, they patted it all up to be as packed as they could get it. Then both of them ran inside the house, coming back out with sleds in place of shovels. 

"Oh," Logan said with a hint of amusement. "That's why." He and Melinda then watched the two slide down their makeshift snow hill. 

...

Later, after Gengar and Vi both had their fun quota satisfied, the four of them went out to dinner. It was nice being in a warmer location, and having it be a pizza place with an all you can eat buffet helped a lot too. The air was nice and faintly smelled of smoke, and all the other patrons gave a nice series of background sound. 

"I get the feeling that this year will probably go even faster than last year," Melinda said as she got her plate and piled on the edibles. "But that could just be me." She then helped Vi with reaching the French Fries in the middle of the buffet table. 

With a snort, Logan figured to try and humor his daughter. "No, that pretty much happens the older you get. When you get old like me, you swear there's barely any time left in the day." Now it was Melinda's turn to make a noise, namely a scoff in sheer disbelief.

"Old?! Dad, I'm only thirty-eight!" 

"In some places, that's considered middle age, Melinda." When Logan got what he wanted, he looked about and grew concerned. "Now where'd Gengar run off to...?" 

...

As it turned out, Gengar had ended up in a brief scuffle with a Mr. Mime over the last piece of supreme pizza. Both their owners ended up apologizing for them. To everyone's relief, the two of them had been stopped before Gengar could unleash a full power Night Shade at Mr. Mime. 

Once the other two left (the pizza ended up going to Mr. Mime, out of courtesy or something like that), Gengar took on a grumpy look and crossed his stubby arms. When he saw this (Melinda and Violetta had gone to sit down at their table), Logan tried to reason with him. 

"Now, there's no need to be childish about this," he said to him, which didn't seem to do much good. "Sometimes you have to give up the things you really want in life. I don't think I need to keep telling you this, Gengar; for goodness sake, you're fifty-three years old."

Gengar just turned to Logan and stuck his long tongue, blowing a huge rasberry at him. Logan just crossed his own arms and rolled his eyes. He then caught sight of a waitress and her Blaziken bringing out more replacements. Then he lifted up one of his arms and pointed at what the Blaziken had. 

"See? There's another one there right now. And I'm sure that's fresher than what you had to give to Mr. Mime." When his eyes drifted over to where Logan was pointing, Gengar's eyes lit up. He then waddled over and stood in front of Blaziken, jumping to try and reach the pizza she had. 

Logan shook his head in a mix of amusement and exasperation, while shrugging. "It's like taking care of a five year old sometimes." Then he went over to help stop Gengar from antagonizing the waitress' Blaziken. 


	23. Chapter 23

_-thirty seven years ago-_

It had taken an awful lot of negotiation before Logan could convince his wife to spend a few hours away from their fifteen month old daughter. Ever since they'd gotten Melinda, Charlotte had practically hovered over her from morning until night. Sometimes she even slept right next to the crib. 

Logan had been at his wit's end; several times he tried telling her that Melinda would be fine, to no avail. Considering their track record child-wise (and the lengths they had to go through to finally adopt Melinda), though, it was perhaps just a little bit understandable. 

"Honey, please," he said to her as he watched her check every nook and cranny in Melinda's room. "The babysitter will be here any minute now. If you're doing that when she gets here, she's going to think that you don't trust her-" 

"Because I  _don't_ , Logan! I don't trust anyone who may have some plan to take my sweet little girl away! I didn't have a miscarriage and two stillbirths for nothing!" She continued frittering about the nursery. "I'm not going to let some snot-nosed teenage brat or dementia-riddled old crone hurt her!" 

All Logan could do at this point really was facepalm. Then he turned to look for Gengar, only to see him right there.

"Now remember to behave, all right?" To make sure Gengar knew he was being serious, he put his fists on his hips. "The last thing we need is you scaring off this babysitter, as well." He groaned inwardly, not really wanting to remind him. "The neighbors are afraid to come over here to watch Melinda now..."

...

Despite trying to get Charlotte to enjoy a rare evening to relax, Logan could tell she was getting really antsy at dinner. The way she kept wringing and tearing up her napkins made that fairly obvious. By now, her partially-eaten dinner no doubt had to have gone cold. 

"Just one call wouldn't hurt-" 

"It will be fine, Shar," he said to her. "Gengar may have a mischievous streak, but he can manage to behave himself. Sometimes he just needs to be prompted to do so. Otherwise, don't worry. It isn't like the babysitter is going to rob us or anything like that, you know..."

...

In the near pitch darkness of the closet, Melinda tried not to suffocate amongst the plethora of woolen sweaters piled on top of and around her. She had to remain in there, however; Gengar had told her to, and Melinda really didn't want to make him upset for any reason. Even in her young mind, she knew she had to be quiet.

Gengar had pressed one of his little hands onto her mouth, after he'd woken her up, to keep her from crying out. He then carried her, as quickly and quietly as he could, into her parents' room. When they got there (thankfully without the so-called 'babysitter' seeing them), he'd pulled down all the sweaters onto her and told her to stay put. 

Then he went and hid under her parents' bed, after shutting the closet door. After waiting for about a minute or two, the both of them could hear the muttering of the 'babysitter' as he entered the room. 

"Cheap bastard couple," she grizzled while approaching Charlotte's vanity, before rifling through it. "They better not be one of those that put all their money in 'stocks and bonds' or something ridiculous like that." Finding nothing but cheap cosmetics, the women rifled through Logan's sock drawer. Nothing there, either. 

Looking about, she then looked directly at the closet door, a devilish grin on her face.

Just as she strode over and began opening it, however, that was when Gengar popped out and hit her with Sludge Bomb. 

...

When Logan and Charlotte got back home, they were dismayed to see police cars parked in their driveway. 

"Oh boy," Logan told himself, before speaking to his wife. "Somehow I'm getting the feeling you were right, Shar..." Now they watched as the babysitter, covered in sludge that could only have come from Gengar, was led out with her hands cuffed behind her back.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that stupid thing was there?! The kid's parents didn't tell me about it, and-" She kept on ranting as the policeman (and Incineroar the police _mon_ ) ushered her into the backseat of the car nearest them. It was then that Charlotte and Logan ran over to ask the police chief what exactly happened. 

As the both of them got back into the house (once the police got everything sorted out), they could hear Melinda laughing and clapping happily along with Gengar saying his name in fast succession. A peek into her room showed her being an eager spectator to Gengar wearing an oversized fancy hat and imitating a snooty rich person.

"I guess you were right too, Logan," Charlotte told her husband.


End file.
